Buffalo Winter Fest - Saturday & Sunday

It's happening NOW in Buffalo. The Skyway off-ramp at Seneca St. is closed to traffic and has been filled with snow for tubing!

A huge Ice Maze has been constructed and has earned a spot in the Guinness Records Book as the World's largest.

The event is dubbed "The Powder Keg Festival". In addition to Skyway tubing and the ice maze, the Festival website reports:

It's the stuff of winter dreams, for adults and kids alike: Gathering with friends and family to enjoy hot food and refreshments, ice skating, broom ball, snowshoeing, carriage rides, and the polar bear swim.

Also, from 11am to 5pm, there will be a Buffalo Vendors Market on the 3rd and 4th floors of the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, providing festival attendees a place to escape the cold and to check out local artisans and products.

The photos above are from today's report in The Buffalo News, which you should check out for a map of the location and additional details on the event.

I'm going to take Buffalo Rising's advice and head on down to the event today. As they stated, "get away from the computer, and go have some winter fun."

See you tubing down the Skyway off-ramp near the Pearl St. Grill & Brewery!

UPDATE: Sunday, February 28
Congrats to the organizers, volunteers and sponsors on a very successful event!

Photos taken by Joe Cascio prior to and during the event are here. Check out the overhead view of the completed Ice Maze below [click image to enlarge].

Government's Role in Energy Technology

WESTERN NEW YORK

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ASSOCIATION

5 PM, TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 2010

Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center

Delaware at Tupper [Map]

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT – A PARTNER IN RENEWABLE TECHNOLOGY?

Please join us for a forum exploring the role of government in promoting the use of renewable technologies as we make the transition from fossil fuels to a renewable energy based economy.

SPEAKERS

Robert E Knoer, Esq. comes to us with broad range of expertise in the field of environmental law. Mr. Knoer taught “Law and the Environment” at the State University of Buffalo from 1992 to 2007. He will speak on “Opportunities for Local Governments to Use Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency: Addressing the Cost of Government”.

Jessica Miller is an urban planning graduate student at the State University of Buffalo. She will talk about her experience developing ordinance guidelines for solar and wind installations for the city of Erie, PA.

Bill Nowak, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy Research for New York State Senator Antoine M. Thompson, will brief us on Senator Thompson’s “Ten-Point Green Jobs Strategy. In the process he will bring us up to date on energy legislation passed in 2009, as well as current energy legislation before the Senate.

Business Gets Green: February 18th

Thursday, February 18, 2010 5:30pm to 7:30pm

Frank E. Merriweather Jr. Branch Library

1324 Jefferson Ave, Corner of Jefferson and East Utica [ Map ]
This is a wonderful facility - intimate but spacious.
Lots of Free Parking - 20 spaces in the library lot - and ample on-street parking.

Agenda for the 15 minute featured presentations:

• Don Lewinski - National Grid's Small Business Energy Efficiency Program
• Zoë Holloman - Growing Green Works
• David Griggs - Buffalo Niagara Enterprise
• Bryce Bixby and Mike Conroe - Foit-Albert Associates - Rain Garden at Fletcher Hall
  

Descriptions of the businesses in the featured presentations, click here.

The Format for Business Gets Green includes 1/2 hour of 30 second Introductions by businesses, organizations and individuals.

The Introductions are followed by 4 - 15 minute feature presentations on businesses or issues that are of special interest, usually with Powerpoint slides.

If you would like to give one of the 15 minute presentations, please contact Bill Nowak with a 2-3 paragraph description of your presentation and dates (3rd Thursdays, even-numbered months) you can be available to present.

As usual, this session will be filmed for LCTV and YouTube. Thanks Jon Allen!
Videos of all of the past Business Gets Green sessions are HERE.

Save the Date: Senator Thompson wants you to know that we are holding the 2010 Green Expo on Saturday, April 17th, 10am-6pm. Please save this date! For more information, click here.

Students planning Environmental Summit

Power Shift NY - Regional Summit

April 16-18, 2010

WHO: Students in Buffalo, Fredonia, Geneseo, Daemen, Alfred, Cornell, and elsewhere in Western and Central NY

WHAT: Workshops, Panel Discussions, and a Direct Action

WHY: Environmental Action, Sustainability, Equity, Future Jobs

WHERE: University at Buffalo, North Campus

SEEKING: Speakers, Panelists, Event Sponsors

Power Shift New York is a not-for-profit, volunteer driven network dedicated to uniting a diverse movement of youth and student leaders to work collectively on advocating and promoting a sustainable and equitable future in New York. Student groups from every school will be encouraged to share how they have been environmentally active on their own campus and throughout their communities. With an expected attendance of 200-300 people, we hope students will leave the conference with connections to work with in the future, with new ideas, and with a motivation to continue making environmental progress beyond the conference.

We are seeking to obtain speakers and panelists to create discussion about various issues surrounding environmental sustainability, ranging from political action to sustainable business practices to how to green our own campuses. This also includes representatives from green businesses, not-for-profits, and organizations.

We are also looking for event sponsors to aid in covering the costs of this conference. This summit is being organized by student volunteers from around the region who want to make a difference in creating a sustainable future.

For additional information about the Power Shift NY Regional Summit, click here.

A Website, powershiftny.org, is under construction -- stay tuned!

Please contact Danielle Peters, dpeters3@buffalo.edu, for further information or to get involved.

Hope for NY & U.S. High-Speed Rail

NY was recently awarded funding high-speed passenger rail from the federal government. But we won't be speeding from Buffalo to Albany and NY City on a high-speed train real soon, as suggested by the Adam Zyglis cartoon. The intent of the award is to begin "to lay the foundation for high-speed passenger rail". It's a small sum compared to the amount requested in the application: $151 million vs. several Billion dollars. Two other states fared much better: California received $2.34 Billion and Florida, $1.25 Billion. Possible reasons for the paltry funding to NY are reported in a recent article by Jerry Zremski in The Buffalo News. A table supplied by the White House shows the full list of funded projects.

But there is hope for additional funding, and plans are being made for the future. The U.S. High-Speed Rail Association envisions a Buffalo to Albany and NY City connection by 2025 (see Map below, magenta line). Interestingly, they see a Toronto, Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Rochester connection happening sooner, by 2020 (Map, orange line). And even sooner, by 2015, they see connections completed in California, Florida, the South East and the Mid-West (Map, green lines). By 2030, the Association envisions inter-connections (Map yellow lines) permitting coast to coast high-speed rail travel between Buffalo and San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle.

[Click image to enlarge]

The timeline for the national rail system starts with the largest cities in the busiest corridors, and then grows to connect those together across the country, forming the backbone of a sustainable U.S. transportation system. Other components of the system would include connecting regional and commuter rail, light rail, streetcars, electric buses and, weather permitting, bicycles.

A national system of high-speed passenger rail will help revitalize our economy, reactivate our manufacturing sector, and create lots and lots of much needed jobs. Also, by 2030, another hope is that our national high-speed rail system will be powered by clean, renewable energy, helping end our dependency on foreign oil and slashing our carbon footprint.

For Buffalonians itching to get the feel of high-speed rail travel, as well as the feeling of the warm weather in Florida, watch the video below which previews an upcoming meeting, "High Speed Rail 2010", March 4-5, in Orlando, Florida. Mobile link is here.

Fun Friday: Coal Humor

What if you could power an entire city for $100? In a world of ever changing climates, isn't nice to know that one thing stays the same? Coal -- cheap, abundant, clean...errrr cheap. [mobile link is here]

Beginnings of NY High-Speed Rail

In April 2009 the Obama administration listed Buffalo as a candidate for high-speed rail funding.

On Thursday, President Obama announced funding to begin to lay the foundation for high-speed passenger rail from Buffalo to Albany and New York City (the Empire Corridor), as well as for the North East Region and other regions of the country.


$151 million to help with high-speed rail projects

The federal stimulus money will be used for a series of projects along the Empire Corridor, including preliminary work on a third track between Rochester and Batavia and construction of a second track between Schenectady and Albany, as well as track improvements between Albany and Montreal.

The Depew and Rochester train stations also will be renovated to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The amount of funding was far less than the $4.7 billion the state had sought. Of that total, $3.2 billion would have been targeted for a dedicated high-speed third track along the rail route and the rest for station, bridge and equipment improvements.

Advocates in Washington said that while the state had sought more funding, the amount it will receive still would be a major step toward 110-mph trains that would reduce travel time from Buffalo to Albany to 3½ hours and to New York City to less than six hours.

"I think this is wonderful," said Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, who organized the 11-member Upstate New York Caucus early last year to push the rail project.

"I was hoping for a half-billion, but I'm happy with what we got. They're not going to start it and not finish it, and I'm going to make sure of that."

Read the report by Mark Sommer and Jerry Zremski in The Buffalo News.


Information from the White House:

New York - Albany - Buffalo:
The 468-mile Empire Corridor connects all of New York’s largest cities. The vision for the corridor is to increase speeds to 110mph and add daily round trips, with one of the largest investments being the construction of a third track between Albany and Buffalo.

The Northeast Region currently has the most integrated passenger rail network in the country. The vision for these rail corridors is to invest in projects that will boost speeds, cut trip times and strengthen the system as a real alternative to air and car travel. The seven intercity passenger rail corridors in the region are shown in the map.

[click image to enlarge]

Additional information from the White House on funding of these and other regions of the country is here.

Restoring and Greening the Neighborhood

PUSH Buffalo, Homefront Inc., and the Massachusetts Avenue Project are restoring vacant and abandoned houses on Buffalo's West Side and re-energizing them using environmentally-friendly solar and geothermal heating systems. In addition to these green rehabilitation efforts, their strategy focuses on job creation and urban agriculture, and it is being looked at by NY State as a model for neighborhood redevelopment.

NY Gov. David Paterson recently proposed the Sustainable Neighborhoods Project to revitalize vacant homes across the state by using existing state resources to create long-term affordable city housing. He said that he would start with Buffalo’s 23,000 vacant houses, and that the Sustainable Neighborhood Project will invest in environmentally-responsible projects that develop blighted property, vacant land, community gardens and urban agriculture.


In The Buffalo News:
State looks at West Side as model for redevelopment
Developers using environmentally friendly strategies to curb vacant housing
PUSH Buffalo activists view Paterson's pledge and a subsequent visit by the governor's aide as an indication the state may be nearing a decision to help fund their multimillion-dollar neighborhood development.

I think they're assessing our work," said Aaron Bartley, executive director of PUSH, one of the groups spearheading the development. "The level of interest they've shown tells me they're interested in what we're doing."

What PUSH and its partners, Homefront and the Massachusetts Avenue Project, are doing is overseeing a redevelopment strategy that emphasizes more than just housing rehabilitation. It also focuses on job creation and the environment.

The plan targets a 25-block area directly south of West Ferry Street and west of Richmond Avenue, with an eye toward rehabilitating abandoned homes and revitalizing vacant lots and public spaces.

The primary focus is on housing, with plans for a green-designed rehabilitation of about 200 housing units, three-quarters of them vacant.

"If we really want to make a dent in the housing problem on the West Side," Bartley said, "we have to hit at least 100 vacant housing units."

If this development has an edge over others, it may be the proven track record of the three community groups leading the effort. Each of them has had success in redeveloping vacant properties.

Together, they have completed a green-designed rehabilitation of six vacant housing units and are working on 17 other units right now.

Read the report by Phil Fairbanks in The Buffalo News.

EPA acts to Stop Coke Plant Pollution

Earlier posts described a surprise raid of the Tonawanda Coke plant by federal and state agents, and the arrest of the plant's environmental control manager. The Clean Air Coalition of Western NY continues to raise awareness about the plant's pollution on behalf of the local residents. The good news is that the EPA is responsive to the pollution problems, and is increasing pressure on the coke plant to clean up their act.

EPA vows to get tough on River Road plant
Tonawanda Coke told to fix violations

Judith Enck, regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced Thursday a series of violations against Tonawanda Coke that made it clear the company has escaped close notice for years by inspectors. The violations carry fines up to $35,000 a day, and Enck said the EPA would not be shy in pursuing them if Tonawanda Coke fails to act.

Clean Air Coalition of Western New York has complained about the mysterious illnesses and air pollution from Tonawanda Coke for the past four years.

But it took a protest outside Tonawanda Coke’s gates in October, and complaints to Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, plus Sens. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and then Enck’s move to the EPA before anything happened.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Jackie James-Creedon, who founded the Clean Air Coalition after she was stricken with fibromylagia, an auto-immune disease.

Creedon and Erin Heaney, executive director of the coalition, spent a day with Enck in Albany after the protests in October and briefed her on Tonawanda Coke.

“The optimal outcome is that Tonawanda Coke fixes what is broken,” Heaney said. “We need to make sure that every step is taken to make sure the risk is as low as possible.”

“We’re doing what we can to control the benzene emissions to the greatest extent possible,” Enck said, “and this is very important, because benzene is a known human carcinogen.”

Read the report by Michael Beebe in The Buffalo News.